Hi! Just wanted to introduce myself to this great site....I bought Oldminers B190 near New Orleans a few weeks ago and have been busy gutting it...He was selling it for parts because it had a lot of water damage and needed a new transmission....we agreed on a price and I had it towed 3 hrs to Lafayette,La. where I had a new transmission,new main seal, new valve cover and oil pan gaskets out on it....it has 163k miles on it..once I got it home ..it fit inside my shop and I began to gut it.....lots of rot in bunks , side panels , around fantastic fan plus headliner falling down...my plans are a custom remodel ...wood and veneer was in rough shape so I’ve decided to paint them instead of going back original ..so far got it gutted , all the windows out and cleaned up..cabs are all oil based primed, carpet out..I’ve got a lot Of questions and hope to get some Answers and learn as I go through this and also be able to contribute to this forum with this remodel experience....I’ve been lurking since before I bought it so I’m glad to finally join and post! Look forward to this journey and enjoying my B190 when it’s done and ready for the road!

Here’s some pics ...

Last edited by Kajun on Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks Chris!..lol yea I think it’s does have a guardian angel for sure...prob is where was my guardian angel? haha nah I’m happy to have it...its more work than I’d like and the Louisiana heat makes it even harder but I will complete this!!

I notice that you have stripped the bunk area down to the shell. I was wondering whether you could trace the wires connecting to the reading lights at the front of the area to where they connect to the power supply and let me know. I have an 89 with an extra reading light in the edge of the storage area over the couch which I suspect might have co-opted the supply to the reading lights in the bunk area. Since the wiring is all behind the finished materials, an indication of where the power to those lights meets a hot wire would be useful in trying to restore their original function.

Welcome to the B190 enthusiasts and something tells me we are going to learn a lot from this renovation. I think you are making a good decision to gut it totally and do a custom design that fits your needs. Please keep posting pictures and I do envy your workshop.

hello Kajun, glad you joined in. you are so courageous, we agonize over every new screw hole placed in the van, well you take a grappling hook and plucked it's guts out. we just know you're going to create something stupendous. Keep those pix coming! We are going to learn so much from you.

Update on what’s getting done....I’m going new on the fantastic fan and Aircon ...after removing them I found rot around the holes and in the old encased in fiberglass in the ceiling...so I cut it all out and started replacing ..got the fan area wood glued in, got bunk replacements wood glued in..and the side firring strips glued in...used PL 8X premium on bunks and liquid nails polyurethane on the strips.....found 2 wires just forward of aircon going through roof that turned out to be prewiring for solar panels. So I’m gonna update those wires with latest wire for solar and install brackets for panels since I got ceiling open...I have no idea about solar so until I research it that’s on hold....got the stepside fairings off and sanding them for a repaint...dropped the propane tank for restore/paint...got all cabinets/veneer primed and top coated ... Whew! Tons of fun lol

If you have a moment, can you give me some ideas on how to fix the bunk sagging on my 1998 B190 thread? I posted a picture on there so you can see what I'm talking about. From your pictures though, it looks like I need to pull the plywood up and re-screw the side supports back into the side of the van right? Thanks!

Skater...yes I’ll draw a schematic when I’m on the wiring and share..I should of took alil more time and drew it out when I was gutting but I didn’t...but it seems to be fairly simple and straightforward...

Tdashmike...it looks like ya solved the sagging issue...shims and screws! Seems the whole interior is held together with wood screws so that’s what I would of recommended also lol more screws!

Kajun wrote:Skater...yes I’ll draw a schematic when I’m on the wiring and share..I should of took alil more time and drew it out when I was gutting but I didn’t...but it seems to be fairly simple and straightforward...

Tdashmike...it looks like ya solved the sagging issue...shims and screws! Seems the whole interior is held together with wood screws so that’s what I would of recommended also lol more screws!